The Environmental Working Group swoops in to help us again! This time with a free guide to ensure you’re eating good food… and doing it on the cheap!

In their words: “Stretching your dollars to get a month’s worth of healthy, filling food is a challenge. EWG assessed nearly 1,200 foods and hand-picked the best 100 or so that pack in nutrients at a good price, with the fewest pesticides, contaminants and artificial ingredients.”

Please, though, disregard their advice on fats and oils. The polyunsaturated oils they recommend are actually the least healthy. Both because of the damage done to the delicate oils during processing and the high amounts of omega 6 fatty acids, these oils are not the best choices.

“Damaged oil” is another way of saying “rancid oil.” Manufacturers cover the rancidity up with deodorants and bleaches. Both damaged oils and too much omega 6 causes inflammation. Inflammation is the cause of 70% of chronic disease (according to the CDC).

Best to go with butter, ghee (clarified butter), coconut oil and/or fat reserved from cooking beef. Olive oil is fantastic but shouldn’t be used for cooking- the heat damages the oil. Organic sesame oil is a good choice because its omega 6 fats are packaged along with high levels of antioxidants.

This may seem like revolutionary advice that conflicts with what everyone else is saying… but BuzzNutrition delivers the most cutting-edge advice to keep you healthy. An Oil Change may be just what your pantry needs! And this is a place where spending a bit more money is well worth it. 🙂

Some highlights of the EWG guide (with my nutritional recommendations in italics):

Substitute full-fat yogurt for cream and sour cream in recipes. Drain yogurt in a coffee filter to thicken. To cut cost and packaging waste, buy in large containers and measure out small servings.

Cut and freeze fresh fruit when it’s on sale or overripe. Use later in smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt. To eliminate clumping, lay pieces on a tray in the freezer or freeze pureed fruit in ice-cube trays. When frozen, transfer to a bag.

Don’t be fooled. Read the label. Make sure the word “whole” is in the very first ingredient listed. “Multigrain” or “wheat” isn’t enough. Just because it looks brown doesn’t mean it’s whole grain. Better yet, get sprouted wheat bread (Ezikiel’s or alvaradostreetbakery.com). Buy when it’s on sale and store in the freezer. Better yet, avoid bread altogether, as wheat is very hard for most people to digest and refined gluten-free grains are also tough on the Food Tube.

Buy in bulk and stock up during sales. Make your own oatmeal. Packets cost more and are often loaded with salt and sugar. Buy brown rice in bulk and mix with white rice if needed to lower cost.

Add nuts to oatmeal, cereal, salads and stir-fries for a healthy, hearty meal. Raw nuts are often cheaper. Roast them for a delicious snack. Nuts stay fresh longer in the freezer.

Whole or cut-up bone-in chicken can be a money saver. Bake extra and use all week. Buy family-size packs on sale and freeze. Plus, when you cook meat along with the bones and fat, you boost the nutritional value 5 million-fold!

Soak and cook dried beans to save money. Canned beans save time, but rinse them before using and be sure to use BPA-free cans (see my blog post on BPA).

Vegetables about to go bad? Freeze them or make soup.

Stock up on long-lasting vegetables and store them in a cool, dry place. Potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, calabaza, and sweet potatoes taste great for several weeks after you buy them. Frozen vegetables and cabbage keep well, too.

Remember to disregard the advice on oils and contact me for more info.

Teenager arrives home via hovercraft after intense football practice- she doesn’t run as much as goalie, but she’s still exhausted.

As she takes off her oxygen mask, her stomach rumbles with hunger.

She is happy to hear the zipping sound of the kitchen printer, because that means a big piece of schmeat is being constructed for dinner! From the smell of the protein ink, Dad downloaded that yummy Thai marinade tonight!

After her synthetic steak, she’ll be off to do her homework by telepathically moving her pencil across paper from across the room.

If you’re a Star Trek fan, you’re surely familiar with the concept of food made at the push of a button. In “fact”, on Thanksgiving 2266, James T. Kirk requested that the chef make their synthetic meatloaf in the shape of a turkey. The U.S.S. Enterprise used a Protein Resequencer… we may soon be using a 3-D printer!

A company called Modern Meadow just scored $350,000 to adapt technology originally developed for the healthcare industry. (Website is empty of info, but here’s their proposal to USDA.)

The arguments are that this will provide a more sustainable and ethical source of protein for our growing population. It would indeed take the burden off the environment and prevent the horrific treatment of animals that goes on in commercial feedlot farms…

However, it’s likely impossible to exactly replicate meat in its healthiest of forms: pasture-fed and compassionately raised and slaughtered. Its benefits are not from protein alone- properly fed meat also offers a full spectrum of fatty acids, essential fat-soluble vitamins and a host of minerals.

Moreover, when done correctly, farming is a boon to the environment! Specifically, this means small sustainable farms that do not use chemicals or GMO seeds and that do not deplete the soil with monocrops. A great example is Polyface Farms, right here in Swoope, VA. In fact, Virginia is full of great sustainable farms!

Much more to be said on this, but I need to go and make myself lunch… I’m having a steak. It came from a well-treated cow that ate grass. And I’m cooking it by heating a frying pan, not by pushing a button.

As you’re striving for more robust health, trying to recover from an illness, endeavoring to release weight or trying your best to reach your full potential as a human, you’re gonna get discouraged, mess up or want to stop. That’s the point. You’re stretching and growing, which involves rewiring your brainz.

Mistakes and setbacks are opportunities to take a look at what’s not working, where you might need to adjust your approach and that you might need help from a friend. So, in a sense, they’re good and things to be appreciated!

But unfortunately, mistakes and setbacks are often strictly challenged by the voice inside your head.

Your inner voice can be very loud, very mean, very convincing… and very wrong! Would you hang out with you if you said the things you said to you? 🙂 In other words, speak to yourself as you would to a friend.

Your inner voice can really hurt you since it’s somewhat subliminal. Moderating your inner critic can help lower stress and motivate you to continue striving towards your goals in the most positive way. As a bonus, it can also help you be more compassionate and forgiving of others. You might even see that there’s luck in some mistakes!

An emotional bruise is just like a regular bruise except instead of on your physical body, it’s on your emotional body. It’s a place where a bit of sadness, hurt or shame from a past event is stored. When memories of these feelings are stirred up, your inner self’s reaction is like a child’s: “Hey, leave that alone! Don’t look in there! Go away! Stop it!”

We all have emotional bruises. They’re inevitable. But you have the capacity to take control back from their knee-jerk, primal reactions… One way is to use your inner voice to describe things in a positive nurturing way. Give it a try because… wait, what did you say? “I’m so worth it?” Yup. You’re right!

These are the 5 things not to say to yourself:

“I’m so stupid.”

“I can’t do it”

“I’m too _ (fat/skinny/ugly/dumb/awkward)

“I’m a jerk.”

“This always happens to me- it’s just how my life works.”

Let’s look at each in more detail:

1) “I’m so stupid.”

Wait. Are YOU stupid, or is it the thing you just did that’s stupid?

Did doing that thing cause your brain to spontaneously revert into a Neanderthal’s brain? Did your knuckles just get hairy and scraped up from dragging on the ground? I doubt it.

You’re smart- smart enough to recognize what you did wasn’t the ideal choice and smart enough to ponder what to do next time instead.

That thing you did was just an event that happened in a moment of time. It’s not a statement about who you are as a person. (Unless you hurt someone on purpose in which case, stupid’s the least of your worries.) You and the thing-you-did are not the same.

What to say instead?: “What I did was stupid but that’s not who I am.” (And, if necessary, “I’m sorry I threw your cell phone in a lake.”)

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2) “I can’t do it.”

You’re always changing. There are things you certainly thought you never could achieve that you do with ease today (like read!)

You can potentially do it. I mean, you can’t fly without surrounding yourself with an airplane and you can’t learn Russian in 7 minutes and you can’t get a lunch date with Johnny Depp for next Saturday (…wait- can you? can i come?)

Think of the people you most admire- they likely earned your admiration because of a hurdle they overcame or a super-human feat they achieved. They’re just humans like you… but they probably see hurdles differently: instead of 25-foot walls, they probably see mere speed bumps.

What to say instead?: “It’s likely that I can do this- I’m gonna at least try.”

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3) “I’m too fat/skinny/ugly/dumb/awkward.”

A lot of our perceptions of ourselves are built on how society and the media say we should look/act. They discount that the truest happiness, the stuff that bubbles up from deep inside us into a huge grin, comes from being ourselves. And unless we live inside the Stepford Wives movie, or in BarbieWorld, they’re wrong. I mean, they don’t really care… they just want our cash money. Forget them and give yourself permission to be yourself!

Now. Say there’s something about you that is holding you back from being your best self- say you’ve got some weight to release, or you’re not excelling the way you want to be… go ahead and challenge yourself to change. But please do it with compassion and love… use your inner voice to support yourself like you would support a close friend.

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4) “I’m a jerk.”

You’renot a jerk. You probably just bumped an emotional bruise, felt some hurt/shame/anger that originated long ago and reacted in a mean way. It’s okay. You can either apologize to the person you were jerky to or just try again next time!

The most basic primal instinct your body has is to defend itself. Whether it’s a cougar or a hurtful memory, your body wants to keep things exactly the same. It thinks that this strategy is both safer and easier… but is it either? In the short term, maybe. But in the long term, it’s better to say:

What to say instead?: “I’m not a jerk… I just had a knee-jerk reaction because that thing that happened hurt/made me feel shame/made me angry. I think I’ll do it differently next time.”

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5) “This always happens to me- it’s just how my life works.”

If negative things always happen to you, stop inviting them into your life. The more you convince yourself that bad things happen to you, the more you anticipate terrible things to happen. And they will happen more often because of it… you’re subconsciously paving the way for more frustration to come your way. It’s what they call it self-sabotage.

If good things happen, who do you “blame”? Do you take credit for achievements? Then how can you not take some credit for the bad things? External factors are involved, like bad luck and randomness, but good luck and fortuitous coincidences are there too.

A victim succumbs to the whims of the external environment. But it takes a leader to create what s/he wants in life. Not everything will work out but if you partner with your inner voice to focus on the positive, the “bad” things will slide off you like water from a duck and become much less significant.

I put “bad” in quotes because things that seem bad in the moment often add up to good fortune in the big picture. Plus, “bad” things are just opportunities to see how our approach is not working and what we need to do to shift so life gets awesome again.

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What to do?

Talk back to yourself like a gentle Grandma. “You’re wrong.” “NO, that’s not true.” “Be quiet, dear, I’m doing the best I can.”

Imagine you’re talking to a friend who just did what you did. What would you say to them?

Pay as much attention to all the positive, marvelous things you do as the little mistakes/setbacks.

Say we’re in a boat on the river of life… instead of putting up a sail and forcing the direction, drop the sail, chuck the oars and let the current take you.

Just as raw milk is better for baby calves, it’s better for all-growned-up humans. There are so many “why’s” but i’ll just leave it at this: we’d been drinking fresh milk for centuries without problems and then all of a sudden decided to pasteurize… not necessary and also not as safe as you may think… and definitely not as healthy.

It’s illegal to buy raw milk in many states, including Virginia, but it’s NOT illegal to own a cow and drink your own raw milk!
At these 2 dairies, you can buy a share in a cow + a monthly fee for them to cover the milking of your cow and storage/delivery of your healthy and delicious raw milk!
1) silkycowmilk.com/raw-milk

Full share = one-time fee of $50 + $28/month for about 1 gallon of milk per week

This is a very funny description of how tough it is to nail down exactly what/why to eat!

A sample teaser quote: “grains are fine but before you eat them you must prepare them in the traditional way: by long soaking* in the light of a new moon with a mix of mineral water and the strained lacto-fermented tears of a virgin.”

No big surprise here, as vitamin D is crucial to nearly everything that is happening in your body right now…

But, it seems that vitamin D deficiency can super-charge insulin resistance (a condition where the body starts to become desensitized to the hormone that shuttles sugar into body cells, and considered pre-diabetes). A recent study showed that when obesity is joined by vitamin D deficiency, insulin resistance is nearly twice as common than with regular vitamin D levels.

It’s important to get the blood test to avoid overdosing on vitamin D… too little is asking for trouble and too much can be a burden on the body and cause other vitamins (like A, K and E) to get out of whack.

If you have diabetes, or if it runs in your family, or if you are a human being, I recommend that you check your vitamin D levels!

Ask your doctor to order that blood work for you, and/or come into BuzzNutrition for a consultation- I can order a vitamin D test as well as recommend the safest, most effective food and supplements to correct a deficiency! Plus, as your neighborhood nutritionist, I have my finger on the pulse of latest research and can tell you that the recommendations for supplementation that are out there right now are far too low to make an impact on deficiency.